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Tamas Kocsis: The case for a decentralized internet
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Who controls the internet? Increasingly, the answer is large corporations and governments -- a trend that's threatening digital privacy and access to information online, says web developer Tamas Kocsis. In this informative talk, Kocsis breaks down the different threats to internet freedom and shares his plan to build an alternative, decentralized network that returns power to everyday users.
Tamas Kocsis - Web developer
Tamas Kocsis is a self-taught web developer who was always obsessed by new technologies. Full bio
Tamas Kocsis is a self-taught web developer who was always obsessed by new technologies. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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Three years ago,
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I started building a decentralized web
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because I was worried
about the future of our internet.
about the future of our internet.
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The current internet we are using
is about gatekeepers.
is about gatekeepers.
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If you want to reach something on the web,
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then you need to go
through multiple middlemen.
through multiple middlemen.
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First, a domain name server,
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then a server hosting company,
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which usually points you to a third party,
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to a web hosting service.
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And this happens every time
you want to reach a website on the web.
you want to reach a website on the web.
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But these gatekeepers are
vulnerable to internet attacks
vulnerable to internet attacks
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and also makes the censorship
and the surveillance easier.
and the surveillance easier.
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And the situation is getting worse.
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Everything is moving to the cloud,
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where the data is hosted
by giant corporations.
by giant corporations.
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This move creates much,
much more powerful middlemen.
much more powerful middlemen.
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Now, move to the cloud makes sense
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because this way it's easier and cheaper
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for the developers
and the service operators.
and the service operators.
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They don't have to worry
about maintaining the physical servers.
about maintaining the physical servers.
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I can't blame them, but I found
this trend to be very dangerous,
this trend to be very dangerous,
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because this way, these giant corporations
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have unlimited control
over the hosting services.
over the hosting services.
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And it's very easy to abuse this power.
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For example, last year, a CEO of a company
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that acts as a gatekeeper
for nine million websites
for nine million websites
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decided, after some public pressure,
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that one of the sites it manages,
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a far right page, should be blocked.
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He then sent an internal email
to his coworkers.
to his coworkers.
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"This was an arbitrary decision.
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I woke up this morning in a bad mood
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and decided to kick them
off the Internet."
off the Internet."
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Even he admits,
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"No one should have this power."
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As a response, one of
the employees asked him,
the employees asked him,
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"Is this the day the Internet dies?"
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I don't think we are actually
killing the internet,
killing the internet,
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but I do think that we are in the middle
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of a kind of irresponsible
centralization process
centralization process
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that makes our internet more fragile.
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The decentralized, people-to-people web
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solves this problem
by removing the central points,
by removing the central points,
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the web-hosting services.
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It empowers the users
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to have host sites they want to preserve.
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On this network, the sites get downloaded
directly from other visitors.
directly from other visitors.
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This means, if you have a site
with 100 visitors,
with 100 visitors,
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then it's hosted
[by] 100 computers around the world.
[by] 100 computers around the world.
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Basically, this is a people-powered
version of the internet.
version of the internet.
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The security of the network
is provided by public-key cryptography.
is provided by public-key cryptography.
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This makes sure that no one
can modify the sites
can modify the sites
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but only the real owner.
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Think of it like instead of getting
electricity from big power plants,
electricity from big power plants,
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you put solar panels on top of your house,
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and if your neighbor down the street
needs some extra energy,
needs some extra energy,
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then they can just download
some from your house.
some from your house.
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So by using the decentralized web,
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we can help to keep content
accessible for other visitors.
accessible for other visitors.
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And by that, it means
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that we can also fight against things
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that we feel are unjust,
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like censorship.
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In China, the internet
is tightly controlled.
is tightly controlled.
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They can't criticize the government,
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organize a protest,
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and it's also forbidden to post
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a kind of emoticon to remember the victims
of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
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With the decentralized web,
it's not the government that decides
it's not the government that decides
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what gets seen and what doesn't.
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It's the people,
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which makes the web more democratic.
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But at the same time,
it's hard to use this network
it's hard to use this network
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to do something that is clearly illegal
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everywhere in the world,
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as the users probably
don't want to endanger themselves
don't want to endanger themselves
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hosting these kinds
of problematic content.
of problematic content.
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Another increasing threat
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to internet freedom
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is overregulation.
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I have the impression
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that our delegates
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who vote on the internet regulation laws
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are not fully aware of their decisions.
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For example, the European Parliament
has a new law on the table,
has a new law on the table,
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a new copyright protection law,
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that has a part called Article 13.
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If it passes, it would require
every big website
every big website
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to implement a filter
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that automatically blocks content
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based on rules controlled
by big corporations.
by big corporations.
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The original idea is
to protect copyrighted materials,
to protect copyrighted materials,
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but it would endanger many other things
we do on the internet:
we do on the internet:
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blogging, criticizing,
discussing, linking and sharing.
discussing, linking and sharing.
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Google and YouTube
already have similar systems
already have similar systems
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and they are receiving
100,000 takedown requests every hour.
100,000 takedown requests every hour.
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Of course, they can't process
this amount of data by hand,
this amount of data by hand,
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so they are using machine learning
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to decide if it's really
a copyright violation or not.
a copyright violation or not.
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But these filters do make mistakes.
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They're removing everything
from documentation of human rights abuses,
from documentation of human rights abuses,
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lectures about copyrights
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and search results
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that point to criticism
of this new Article 13.
of this new Article 13.
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Beside of that, they are also
removing many other things.
removing many other things.
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And sometimes, these filters
aren't just removing the specific content,
aren't just removing the specific content,
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but it could also lead
to loss of your linked accounts:
to loss of your linked accounts:
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your email address,
your documents, your photos,
your documents, your photos,
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or your unfinished book,
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which happened
with the writer Dennis Cooper.
with the writer Dennis Cooper.
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It's not hard to see
how a system like this could be abused
how a system like this could be abused
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by politicians and corporate competitors.
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This Article 13, the extension of these
automated filters to the whole internet,
automated filters to the whole internet,
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got strong opposition
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from Wikipedia, Github,
Mozilla, and many others,
Mozilla, and many others,
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including the original founders
of the internet and the World Wide Web,
of the internet and the World Wide Web,
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Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee.
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But despite this strong opposition,
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on the last European Parliament vote,
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two thirds of the representatives
supported this law.
supported this law.
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The final vote will be early 2019.
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The result is important,
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but whatever happens,
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I'm pretty sure it will be followed
by many other similar proposals
by many other similar proposals
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around the world.
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These kinds of regulations
would be very hard to enforce
would be very hard to enforce
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through a decentralized web,
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as there is no hosting companies.
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The websites are served
by the visitors themselves.
by the visitors themselves.
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I started to build
this network three years ago.
this network three years ago.
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Since then, I've spent thousands,
tens of thousands of hours
tens of thousands of hours
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on the development.
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Why?
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Why would anyone spend thousands of hours
on something anyone can freely copy,
on something anyone can freely copy,
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rename, or even sell?
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Well, in my case,
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one of the reasons was
to do something meaningful.
to do something meaningful.
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During my daily regular job
as a web developer,
as a web developer,
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I didn't have the feeling
that I'm working on something
that I'm working on something
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that had a chance to be a bigger than me.
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Simply, I just wanted to make
my short presence in this world
my short presence in this world
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to be meaningful.
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Last year, the Great Firewall of China
started blocking this network I created.
started blocking this network I created.
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This move officially made me the enemy
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of the government-supported
internet censorship.
internet censorship.
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Since then, it's been really
a game of cat and mouse.
a game of cat and mouse.
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They make new rules in the firewall
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and I try to react to it as fast as I can
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so the users can keep hosting content
and create websites
and create websites
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that otherwise would be censored
by the centralized Chinese internet.
by the centralized Chinese internet.
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My other motivation
to create this network was worry.
to create this network was worry.
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I fear that the future of our internet
is out of our control.
is out of our control.
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The increasing centralization
and the proposed laws
and the proposed laws
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are threatening our freedom of speech
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and, by that, our democracy.
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So for me, building a decentralized web
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means creating a safe harbor,
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a space where the rules are not written
by big corporations and political parties,
by big corporations and political parties,
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but by the people.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Tamas Kocsis - Web developerTamas Kocsis is a self-taught web developer who was always obsessed by new technologies.
Why you should listen
Tamas Kocsis was never motivated by building a career or getting a high-paid job -- instead, he was more interested in exploring new things, doing something meaningful and solving important problems.
In 2013 Kocsis got excited about the decentralization movement started by Bitcoin cryptocurrency. A year later he started to develop a peer-to-peer, people-powered version of the web called ZeroNet to be a useful member of this community.
Kocsis became interested in programming and web design at the age of 13, then got his first paid assignment as a web developer at age 16. Besides programming, he enjoys any kind of activity that has a definite end result; he's designed and built his own tables, lamps and various objects using concrete, recycled wood, felt and paper.
Tamas Kocsis | Speaker | TED.com